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been writing a lot more songs . And I do Monday live shows from home . And I do a lot of walking — try to walk five or six miles every day ; I do a bit of painting , I smoke a bit of dope . So I ’ m taking it easy , I guess .
IE : Your portraits are very Modigliani-sh . SK : Yeah . ‘ Why the long face ?’ Yes . Thank you . But with portraits , when you think about it , if someone goes away on holiday and takes loads of pictures of the Taj Mahal or the desert or the ocean and stuff , you always want to see a human in it , as well . Humans just like to see humans , and I think the most interesting thing is the human face . And it ’ s strange when you start painting — you look at a face , and you want to paint it one way , but then you keep looking at it , and you realize that it isn ’ t like that . And then you sort of have an argument with your eyes because faces are very surprising . It ’ s also very hard to detach yourself when you ’ re looking at a face , to see what you ’ re really looking at . I read one book , when I first started painting a long time ago , that said , “ If you want to paint a good painting of a face , turn it
upside down . Then you can do it with no attachment because when you ’ re looking at a picture of a face , your eyes sort of lie to you about what you ’ re seeing .” So they ’ re very hard to do , and there ’ s more at stake — if you ’ re painting a tree and you don ’ t get it right , no one will care . But if someone hires you to paint their portrait , and you can ’ t capture their face , they ’ re gonna know it . So it ’ s definitely more of a challenge . And the Australian government has just doubled the price of art degrees — they ’ ve doubled them to make them prohibitive because they don ’ t want people to do them . They want people doing degrees in the humanities , people doing degrees in useful subjects like accounting and business and stuff like that . But that ’ s where we ’ re at . So it is fun being an old guy and knowing you ’ re gonna die soon , going , “ Wow . You guys are really gonna reap what you sow if you turn out a nation of accountants and businessmen , and you ignore the humanities .” Like in England , where they ’ ve been telling all of the musicians to retrain because there are no more jobs for musicians . Especially the choirs — choirs have really been hit hard . The very act of singing emits a lot of potential COVID [ germs ], so choirs have really been cracked down on . So they ’ re saying that
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80 % of all the people in the music business have to go and find another job in England , and they ’ re doing little posters where they suggest , “ Oh , he didn ’ t know that he might be a good castle tour guide !” Can you imagine that ? You ’ ve studied cello your whole life , and in 2021 they tell you , “ Look , there are no more jobs for cello players . But we ’ ve got a nice job for you guiding people around this castle in Scotland !” Can you imagine that ?
IE : Where did this album originate ? As an aesthetic eye for female beauty , inner and outer ? And was it written pre- or midpandemic ? SK : Look , the truth is that a long time ago , one day I was having a stoned conversation with someone , as you do , and I said , “ Gee — imagine an album where every song is about a woman , like looking at a photo album , but instead of a photo album , each song is a woman .” And I guess I filed that idea away in my head for years and years . But I was learning to play Church songs in their entirety for my Monday night shows so that I could play all the sounds in their entirety . And then I
sort of realized that I was spending a lot of trying to figure out those songs , what their chords were , and how they fit together . And , like with “ Unguarded Moment ,” you can ’ t really , now can you ? You ’ ve got to do what you can , and I ’ ve got a 12-string guitar , so that helps a little bit and can give you a bit more bang for your buck . But I thought to myself , “ It would be easier to write a brand-new album than to go back and keep learning these old ones — it would actually be less work and less practice .” So one day , I said , “ I ’ m gonna do a new album , and I ’ ll have it ready in one week .” And that was probably about ten weeks into COVID . So then I raced back through my old mental notes and found this idea about every song being a woman , and I thought , “ Well , I ’ ll just get that out .” And I wrote the album in a week .
IE : And it ’ s really great . But most importantly , your voice is virtually undiminished . SK : I like that word . Thank you .
IE : What is , say , “ Poppy Byron ” about ? And lines like “ Mary Shelley / Was watching the telly ”? SK : Hey , she would ’ ve ! If she could ’ ve ! I like
continues on page 28 than a song . The sentiment is bittersweet and lovely , and indeed closes the last album that Orzabal and Smith would make together until 2004 ’ s Everybody Loves a Happy Ending . A Blu-ray disc includes high-definition audio and a new surround mix by Porcupine Tree veteran and Grammy-nominated remix engineer Steven Wilson . If any album from this band ’ s catalog merits the immersive treatment of surround sound , it ’ s The Seeds of Love . Wilson ’ s attention to detail explodes the listening experience into Technicolor and beyond . The disc also permits highdefinition comparisons of the original 1989 master to the 2015 Andrew Walters remaster . B-sides include the haunting “ Always in the Past ,” the frenetic “ Tears Roll Down ,” instrumental “ Music for Tables ,” the meandering and relatively inconsequential “ My Life in the Suicide Ranks ,” and “ Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams ” ( which repurposes lyrics from “ Sowing the Seeds of Love ”). A plethora of remixes are interesting once , but probably won ’ t merit repeated play . The shortened radio edits are ultimately less satisfying than the luxurious album arrangements . More interesting for serious fans is the disc of demos and jams that reveal the songs ’ construction and evolution via vastly different versions of tracks like “ Badman ’ s Song ” and “ Year of the Knife .” The jams from Townhouse studio further illustrate the live players ’ importance to Seeds , and allow listeners to eavesdrop on chatter and spontaneous discoveries . Present as a demo , “ Rhythm of Life ” didn ’ t make the cut for The Seeds of Love . However , the song appeared on Oleta Adams ’ debut solo album Circle of One . An early demo for “ Advice for the Young at Heart ” features Orzabal ’ s lead vocal . The set could have benefited from inclusion of a concert recording from The Seeds of Love tour , made conspicuously absent by the tantalizing inclusion of a replica tour program . And surely , someone must have suggested adding material from the scrapped versions of The Seeds of Love that were helmed by outside producers , if only to provide further evidence that Orzabal and Smith were right to take control of their vision . Such touchstones cast favorable light on the recent Dead Man ’ s Pop reissue of the Replacements 1989 album Don ’ t Tell a Soul . Tom Petty ’ s new Wildflowers reissue is another stellar example of using contextual material to honor a legacy project . For those with the capability to play the content , this Super Deluxe set is worthwhile for the sparkling hi-def audio and Wilson ’ s surround mixes . Casual fans may be better
served by the standalone LP or CD reissues . Knowledgeable fans of the album will appreciate the insight provided by the deluxe set ’ s bonus content , but that material will produce limited returns upon repeated play for most customers .
Nonetheless , The Seeds of Love stands among the ‘ 80s brightest and best albums , filled with forward-looking work as the decade drew to a close . Tears for Fears vaulted the boundaries of the new wave genre while painstakingly crafting a pop classic .
– Jeff Elbel
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FRANK ZAPPA Halloween 81
( Zappa Records / UMe )
Following the immersive fun of last year ’ s Halloween 73 and 2017 ’ s Halloween 77 ( featuring the source material for the Baby Snakes film ), the Zappa Trust follows the model of any properly schlocky horror movie franchise and offers Halloween 81 . The holiday set arrives in another classic costume box styled after the mass-produced kids ’ Halloween costume boxes from decades past . Last year , you could send your child around the block to baffle the neighbors as FrankenZappa . The pandemic will unfortunately keep most kids from raiding houses for candy this year , but you can play dress-up at home with a bag of Butterfingers while wearing your new Count Frankula mask and cape . Moreover , you can do so while listening to 78 previously unreleased virtuosic and uncategorizable Zappa tracks drawn from two full concerts recorded in New York City on October 31 , 1981 and another show from the following night . These were the last of four nights at the Palladium during a busy Fall tour for 1981 , and the next to last of Zappa ’ s Halloween residencies in New York . Selections from these shows have appeared in the You Can ’ t Do That on Stage Anymore series and elsewhere , but this set represents the first release for the full performances ( barring a third pass through the 200 Motels soundtrack ’ s “ Strictly Genteel ” from the final show ), newly mixed from the original 24-track tapes . Prolific and prodigious , Zappa tooled these shows for the benefit of repeat customers . Of 53 songs from the 8PM and midnight shows on Halloween , only “ Strictly Genteel ” is performed twice . The late show includes appropriately spooky and demented fare for the occasion like “ Goblin Girl ,” “ Sinister Footwear II ,” “ The Torture Never Stops ,” “ Drowning Witch ,”
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